ACADIANA MEDIEVAL FAIRE MARCH 31 - APRIL 3

And April 4 - 8 is reserved for breakdown of said Faire and boyfriend time. Provided there is no implosions of any sort.

Not that I'm expecting implosions or explosions of any kind, but I find it best to be prepared.

So I'll more offline than on during this time period. *headdesk* And I forgot to pack the camera. Damnnation.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

P.N. Elrod has done it again

Barbara B is suing people. P.N. Elrod has illustrated how the case may go once it gets to court (we can only hope).

The Trial of Agent B

And yes, Miss Snark is listed as a defendent.

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The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Turtles in a half shell...

You know this Friday night movie thisng is a really good idea. There's a Rave theater I must pass on the way home. They usually put a show I want to see at 5pm or 5:30. I swing in after work, see the movie, eat supper, and go home at a not too unreasonable time. This was also how I saw "Pan's Labyrinth" and probably how I'll get to see "Bridge to Terabitha" and "The Last Mimsy" pretty soon before they go away.

So last night was "TMNT," all CGI and not fighting the Shredder. The funniest part was running into two pals I hadn't seen in months at the same showing so we got to see it together and eat dinner afterwards.

Thoughts on the show. I'm ready to see it AGAIN! But I did have four issues.

1). You so totally didn't need the narration at the beginning. Yeah it was Laurence Fishburn, and I'm sure some studio head asked for it, but that time could have been better used focusing on character stuff.

2). Leo and Raph have been sparring partners and training their ENTIRE LIVES. Sorry, I can't buy that when the fight between Leo and Nightwatcher went to fists and feet, that Leo didn't recognize Raph's fighting style until the helmet came off. And CASEY recognized Raph but none of his family did? Though my friends and I came to the conclusion that Splinter knew but was waiting for Raph to admit to it.

Though the above in no way takes away from the awesomeness of that fight.

3). The Mayans didn't have metal for armor. That just annoyed the historian in me in the beginning sequences. I like the design of the 5 Generals and could have excepted that maybe they had figured out this thing called metal armor, but even the guys they fought looked like medieval knights on foot. Meh.

4). TOO SHORT! More Mike and Donnie would have been nice and some what's her face and Leo interaction would have been good too.

There's was oodles I liked.

A). Mike's skateboarding sequence. That scene alone proved why this had to be a CGI movie. There's no way--even if it was Tony Hawkes in the suit--that could have been done live-action with a stuntman. The fight scenes were just even more added bonus finally getting to move like they should.

B). Patrick Stewart and Sarah Michelle Geller's performance were stellar. Course I cracked up the first time Winters opened his mouth, cause all I could think of was this was the only way to give Patrick Stewart hair. I bought Sarah Michelle Geller as April.

C). The 13 monsters are cryptos. The little red one Raph fought is supposed to be the Jersey Devil, and we're guessing the first one they fought is supposed to be Bigfoot. Want to see it again, so I can figure out the rest.

D). Splinter is a fan of "Gilmore Girls." I can't wait to tell my sister who is a fan of that show. LOL

E). April's yellow catsuit was a nice homage. Poor girl will never get away from that color will she?

F). I want the soundtrack.

It's a good movie, even for those just wanting an action film. Chad's willing to wait for DVD *eye roll,* but I'm going to see it again.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Annoyed with school and writing

Annoyed with school because they apparantly lost my withdrawal paperwork last month and I'm giving them one more day to get that class off my record. In other words, I'll call them tomorrow at some point. Annoyed with writing as you can see with the rest of the whine below.

For ENGL-646

I don't blame anyone if they don't read the following. I had to vent.

My writing process, maybe I should give it some deeper thought. Constantly daydreaming plots and characters hasn’t changed, but I remember sitting down no matter where and writing. Now it is too easy to be distracted from the page, to get out of the chair to do anything else, can’t write until the deadline pressure explodes. Why did it change? How do I get it back?

If I’m writing constantly in my head, which is what I feel the daydreams are, and I hear the words in my head before typing them, why do I have such a disconnect with putting it on paper? Once I get going, it’s smooth. It’s not like I’m gnawing on a pen or keyboard because the words won’t come. I do stop and reread when I don’t hear anything else in my head. I just noticed that with writing this. I’m playing with objects on my desk because I don’t know where to take this response next.

Maybe I like stressing myself out over my writing? In a weird way, that almost makes sense. Could I have addicted myself to stress? Is that even possible? I don’t want to think it is possible, but maybe it is a variation of the busy drug, the procrastination buzz. Maybe it’s time to start a new schedule. (A little voice in my brain just went ugh, that never works.) And it’s right, I’m notorious for making and then break schedules. But I want the writing practice Natalie Gold… (Had to stop to look up her name) Goldberg. I want less ego-centric head trips. So why does the doing step always break apart? I don’t think I’m a flighty mess, so why do I keep acting like one?

And why does this examination of how I write become a moan session about my lack of discipline? I’m afraid the answer to that is because my work habits affect how I write, and I don’t feel I have been writing. It’s not true: I just finished eight cooking show scripts (that I should have had done last month), the lesson plan and the mini-lesson plan assignments, and revised the old Dante paper (but apparently not enough) within the past two weeks. I have been ignoring the fiction, and that makes me feel like a horrible, non-committed writer.

I’m not a horrible person and I can do the practice everyday at lunch until it becomes a habit. Free writing for five minutes starting today.

Good news, I did get the five minutes in and feel pretty good about it. Now to more structured writing.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Why I picked this department again?

I'm just a little disgusted right now. I think I ate too much at lunch and now it's disagreeing with me. And I opened up my email to find that the struggle to the post office that ended up making me late for work was all for not. The professor doesn't believe the Dante paper is ready for publication. Yes, the same Dante paper that nearly killed me last year.

SLU puts out the Pick, a publication of student school work. Well, a couple of the people who work on it are in my Wednesday night class and said they needed more graduate student submissions. So I said what the hey, I'll turn that one in. Maybe somebody will see it and do the idea the justice I don't seem capable of.

So then it was a struggle to get the damn thing together before the deadline. And then I find out I have to have the instructor's approval. And because I have to work when Southeastern wants to conduct business, I had to mail it to him the same morning I had to stop and get more glucose monitoring supplies. Yes, thirty minutes late to work. All that insanity to find out it's not up to academic snuff.

I feel like Adam Sandler's character from the Wedding Singer: "That information would have been more helpful YESTERDAY!" Only in my case, the end of Spring 2006 semester, so when I pulled it out I would have MADE the edits that it apparantly needs.

It briefly sent me into the "I'm no academic, why do I even try" spiral. Luckily, that didn't last long. I'll take the damn paper to class (which is what I had decided to do before I found out the deadline was yesterday) and let a group see it. I feel sorry for my group. They don't know what to make of Zy's novel, and I'm getting really tired of saying "yeap, I did that to fix it in the second draft." They probably need a finished academic paper to polish.

In good news, I realized that I haven't put up February's totals.

Zy's Novel

Progress Bar from Writertopia

MONTHLY GOAL

Progress Bar from Writertopia

I finished the cooking scripts in March and I need to finish a couple of homework assignments, so March's numbers already look better.

In case anyone is interested in seeing the cooking show: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4 (which is having uploading problems).

Enough bitching and moaning from me. I have a lot of homework left to do as well as get some other things finished so tomorrow is free to build stages.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Taking a break

Mostly because I've hit a receipe that is defying personal restrictions on the cooking show. How do I get around handling raw chicken for a roast? Right now it's just making my brain hurt. I have a new respect for cooking shows, these scripts are hard than they look and I expect to be improving my way through them.

Got the glucose monitor yesterday and started monitoring the blood levels today.

This might work: the chicken is already roasting on the spit, and the volunteers just get to make mortreaux. Okay, I'm going to try that. I'd like to get the scripts done for day 2 today. That'll leave 3 and 4 for tomorrow, and can start on the shopping lists. The kitchen supplies keeps getting longer.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Yo Mez!

Apparantly, your blog doesn't like Firefox any more. It used to like it; I don't know why it won't let me comment now.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Crazy weekend

I will post pics showing the progress on the faire site one day in April or May. Crunch time is here, and Goddess grant me strength not to act like a jealous idiot, and give into the desire to nag.

I don't like to nag; I really don't! But I have to wonder if it's some twisted destiny thing that you inherit the things you hate worse in the environment you were raised in? Or that the trait you do admire most about someone is the same trait that makes you want to strangle them?

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Hopefully with a couple of Aleve's it'll all be better

I feel like crap, paying job is setting my teeth on edge, and even the London Symphony orchestra playing classic British rock songs isn't helping.

After I switched Strix soundtrack CD for BMFM soundtrack CD, I finally dug out music to inspire Zy's novel. Nothing has really sunk in yet. However, I did get a beginning to the cooking show scripts started yesterday. I think a fair bit of it is going to have to be improv, and oddly enough I'm more at ease with that than actually following a memorizied script.

Also I have a couple of editing projects that need to be done. One a homework assignment, and the second is a paper I'm going to submit to the Pick (a journal for student papers Southeastern puts together) that I will take to class next Wednesday to give them something to revise. I don't think they're getting Zy's novel and it's really too rough to benefit from any revision at this point. Anything they point out is a "I did that because I have to go back and figure out mannerism/language/pysiology/planet after I get the first draft done" response. I'm tired of saying it even.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Nope, turning thirty didn't kill me

It just got really ugly at work for a while. Ugly as in mail pouring out of our ears. And since I do most of my blogging at work *shrug.*

Healthwise: hormones seems to be under control so far. Not loosing any weight, but I'm not trying to either. Finally got my sleep back under control, though that was a simple fix--I was drinking too much caffine and it was keeping me up. Haven't felt the need to rip anyone's head off when I got upset (and last weekend was bad with that).

Writing: Breaking Bejamin's CD "Phobia" is part of the soundtrack for the Strix universe. Listening i the car and things started falling into place--especially on the backstory I had gien up on. Ferris is a nerd from the 1950s, and I'm picturing a guy like Stuart from the Frighteners.

But I'm not working on that until I get some work on Zy's novel done. I'm in Chapter 10 now, practically to the part that has never been written before. But the paying job swarmed and I haven't accomplished anything. I just went through my CDs and I don't have anything for Zy's Novel. *headdesk* My plan is to do some longhand composing today and get me into the mood. If I get through the first point on my outline, I'm going to reward myself with some Strix stuff.

Things to remember to do:

1. Check trunk for Mary's dishes
2. Check costume closet for Merlin outfit for Scarlett

I keep forgetting when I go home. Price for actually getting up on time.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

"Today is your Birthday"

Three decades on the planet today. I thought about doing an introspective, where did I think I was going to be, where do I think I'm going to end up. But now that sounds horribly depressing.

So maybe I'm ready for a things I'd like to do before I die list. That doesn't sound cheerful either. Finish formal education, travel, and get published; it really hasn't changed since high school. Add get healthy to leave longer--I didn't forsee being in as much pain as I'm in now.

My coworkers are treating me to lunch. I'm probably going to treat myself to dinner and a Ghost Hunters marathon unless my parents have other ideas for tonight. And memorize Bilbo's birthday speech. That'll be fun for my 40th.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Maybe I grossed everyone out

Hormones are finally balancing out through birth control chemistry. I also cut back on the caffine today, been having way too much lately.

So homework-wise, I've got progress! Finished this week's readings, finished the reading response, have the rough draft of the mini-research project done. What's left to do is 500 words on Zy's Novel and I'll be done for the week. Now I do have to get the cooking show scripts mostly done before I can do any more homework, and that's pretty much the end of the list.

I am worried about the cooking show, that's why I've procrastinated on them so long. I've never written anything like that before. All my other scripts have had a concrete location and characters. And of course my perfection gene is rearing it's ugly head. It's my baby, it's never been done on the circuit before, it MUST BE PERFECT! Yeah, a perfect receipe for writer's block and stage fright.

Anyways, the sixth reading response for ENGL-646.

I’ve given up trying to discuss this class with my boyfriend. Every time I get the grumpy old man response: “those stupid brats know nothing so they are being taught nothing; fire everybody and start the brats over with the basics because the stupid brats don’t know any basics and will remain stupid until they master the basics.” Not in so many words but that’s the attitude. And how many agree with me that 35 is too young for the grumpy old man routine? Judging by all the reading we’re doing, it’s a common feeling out in the public and maybe too common within. All the slang, all the leet-speak, all the text message shortcuts; we’re raising a pack of wild animals that will turn on us like Lord of the Flies. They’re not human; they can’t communicate. And it’s the teacher’s fault they can’t communicate.

Ignoring the blatant ageism to think about it logically, there are problems with teaching and improvements to be made—there always is—but are kids fundamentally more stupid than the generation before? As a group of course not. Are teachers deliberately teaching bad writing? No of course not, but that is what the back-to-basics argument implies. And how many doing the yelling want to fund actual reform that doesn’t look like anything they had going to school? One of the articles that I found doing the mini-research project proposed a solution of separate classes in high school instead of the broad “English” class that has to cover everything: a literature class, a grammar class, a writing class. Because they are different things. I think it was the same article that claimed most parents dismiss any changes or modernization to the classroom because subconsciously they feel it invalidates the experience they had. Maybe the joke “you have to suffer through school because I suffered through school” really isn’t a joke.

The only teaching I have done was the writing tutorials on writing fanfics, and I didn’t introduce grammar elements until after we had covered brainstorming, plot, characters, description, scenes, narration, Mary Sues, etc. and the ESL writers asked for more clarification on terms. So my own experience matches whichever article we read that said you can’t teach editing until there is something to edit. With that in mind, the essay I liked best out of this week’s reading is “The Study of Error” by David Bartholomae. The first of his points to strike me was how we as readers turn off our critical skills and dismiss writing with errors as rubbish and the writer must be an idiot to write rubbish, which is what I think my boyfriend is doing. Study the errors (Bartholomae gives a good breakdown to how to start doing that) and figure out where the real problem lies. My tutorials were a crude method of doing that, since so many of the errors I saw were not understanding the fundamentals of telling a story.

I may have exaggerated Chad's grumpy old man routine, but it does get damned annoying. While I have no particular desire to reproduce and raise, I don't hate kids. Some of it may be ex-teacher bitterness too. *Shrug*

What I'm finding rewarding about this class is how it is validating my personal experience. Despite the lack of feedback in the end, despite the occassional nasty replies calling me a language fascist, despite my unpublished expertise, I was doing good with those tutorials. Maybe even some theory-sound work without getting bogged down in the theory. Mind you, I'm not ready to pick them back up and start writing them. But at least I don't feel that they were a total waste of time and just me preaching to the choir.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Lousy timing

At the risk of turning off all male readers of my blog (I actually think I just have one and he just had a baby), I need to bitch about my damn cycle.

Haven't had one since November, explained the condition, and got some progestern from the doctor to kick start it. Took the medication but nothing happened, so by this morning I'm contemplating having to go back to the doctor when I get the clean bill of health on the pap smear and HPV test. Head to work, running late thanks to stupid wreck ahead of me, and feeling lousy thanks to those proto-starting cramps. Those have been giving me false alarms since last Friday, but today it's actually productive.

Yeah, no doctor trip. Boo, I have no pads in my black laptop bag. None.

I find one in the car. My last one and it's for a thong. Course, I'm not wearing a thong today, so I can only hope it will last until I get home, where I have a stockpile of them. *Sigh*

In other news, I think I figured out what was going on with the scene I was stuck in. I'm at home this weekend due to weather, so I'm hoping to get a huge chunk of writing and homework done. At least get Chapter Nine done, and read what other people have submitted for revision.

Not really news, but the Doctor Who obsession continues unabashed. I figured out a crossover with Biker Mice. *Headdesk* Oh, I'll never write it--mainly because the Plutarkians aren't a worthy adversary for the Doctor--but I'm considering a cameo for the last Biker Mice story in the Wars Are Won series. Still I like this exchange between Throttle and the Doctor, and figured I'd share since you put up with me grossing you out.

Throttle: "But you're a Time Lord. You could make sure this whole mess never even started."

The Doctor: "And if there had been no war with the Plutarkians, where would you be? I doubt with an Earthling mechanic in Chicago would be one of your choices. Besides, I am the last one you should ask. All of my people sacrificed themselves to stop the Daleks in the Time War and those exterminators still pop up. Get rid of the Cybermen and somebody reinvents them. Deal with the Plutarkian menace on your own, you stand a better chance of defeating them for good. And you will defeat them."

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Is there a rule it has to rain on Ash Wednesday?

I know it's the one weather pattern you can count on in Louisiana, but I think it has been a trend for the past few years. And it's hard enough coming back to work with an odd day off without the wet stuff.

Tomorrow I should be withdrawn from the Thursday night class. Despite how I feel about the class, my schedule isn't cooperating and getting out before I do something to a professor is probably for the best. I would have already done it, but the paperwork requires more signatures. And he doesn't have office hours on Friday, Monday, Tuesday was a holiday, and couldn't get an appointment for today. So hopefully I can drop in tomorrow and then turn in the sheet. And if that doesn't work, I'll go with a medical stress leave.

Okay, back to writing. I need 500 words before class.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

More health fun

Got the dreaded pelvic exam over with yesterday and got diagnoised with PCOS. The short answer is my hormones are out of whack due to insulin resistance and messing up with my ovulation. What does that mean specifically for me? I get all the fun shit like pimples and PMS but no bleeding to show why I need to bite people's heads off, and a four month wait till my appointment with an endocrinologist. And they want me to start pricking my finger every day.

And a happy Valentine's Day to you too.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Damn almost two weeks

Since my last update. No wonder I'm getting emails. ;)

Actually up to the eyeballs in reading assignments. ENGL-646 "Teaching Creative Writing" is actually turning out to be a good, useful class--even if it's bogging me down with the reading right now. ENGL-650 "African-American Drama" is not, and I'm ready to disengage. Unfortunately, I can't withdraw and have to pay back the financial aid I've already spent. Current plan is to suck it up until March, when it will be too late for Financial Aid department to demand it back.

Writing has gotten distracted by a Doctor Who fest. I've been bad. But I surprised myself actually. I was one of the Americans introduced by Tom Baker via PBS, but when I actually caught an episode (they aired it insanely late in those days) I loved to watch it but always felt that I was never in the know. I wanted to be sucked in. I was a sci-fi fan and demanded to be sucked in, but it never clicked. The Eighth Doctor's TV movie floored me, but nothing ever happened with it, and I moved on. Fell in love with "Doctorin' the Tardis" during college days. Vaguely, heard about a new series and Ninth and now Tenth Doctor, and "oh well, I'll get around to it eventually."

Then Andrew Sullivan posted a fanvid blending Delak from the new series with the French soldier's dialogue from Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. It's on YouTube, go looking for French Delak. Then I went clicking on other YouTube fanvids. And found this one.



Friday I bought the 2005 season on DVD and had to reason with myself not to buy 2006 because of funds.

Now having finished those episodes I'm so very thankful for British eight-year-olds. The producers aimed the very intelligent show at them and knowing that all they would know (if anything) would be Doctor is an alien and time travels in a blue box. There's still the mystery and the wonder and the excitement that I picked up on as a kid, but no longer the sense of missing something.

Okay, and it doesn't hurt that I wouldn't mind jumping Nine or Ten's bones. Sorry, Four, you just don't ooze sexy.

Ahem, also spending more time in Lafayette. I was there yesterday, and got a reprieve for today because of the massive piles of reading. We're having to do massive amounts of cleaning to the wooded area, but it will be worth it. I will post our work-in-progress pictures when I get some.

And my friends Billy amd Misty have successfully reproduced. Kay Lily born February 9th weighing 9 and half pounds. I'm going to have to get some time to travel to Florida, but I also have time to make the trip, since I'm perfectly willing to let Misty's family go first. Though I feel bad about not being there as backup to send them back to Louisiana.

Drat, have laundry to deal with and then I need to go to bed and get my schedul back on schedule.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Monthly totals

I doubt I will have more to add. But I'm pretty impressed with my January numbers regardless.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Zy's Novel

Progress Bar from Writertopia

WEEKLY GOAL

Progress Bar from Writertopia

MONTHLY GOAL

Progress Bar from Writertopia

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

So now I'm here

Got everything I needed to get done today done. I can't seem to kickstart the transition into my next scene for Zy's Novel. And the play I'm supposed to read for homework sounds even less appealing. So now I'm here.

I suspect the sloggish feeling I have is because it's ten minutes to lunchtime and my energy level has drooped. But I need to kick around a few things and this is the blank space to do it in. I apologize for the disjointed paragraphs ahead of time.

Trampoline. As in a totally irrationally want to be bouncing on one right now. My very own, in my own yard, reenacting battle scenes that I'm writing. And that part is arguing with the responsible part that wants to spend the money on a house note that a trampoline will help me lose weight. Now that stance isn't fair.

Ashe Cultural Center down in New Orleans is my topic for the 15-page paper. I have no idea what I want to say about it. We have to have a stance and argue it. They provide a positive African-American voice in the arts in New Orleans. Fine arts on the decline in schools and the community stepping up to the plate. I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels.

Okay, let me wrap up Zy's Novel for class tonight. Maybe noww I can concentrate on it.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

A little self-reflection is a good thing

For ENGL 646

Creating a list to answer the question “why do I write” didn’t work. Lists are for work; things to do and cross off. “Why do I write” requires sentences and paragraphs.

Why do I write? The quote “my job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable” makes me giddy when I use it to explain why. I want to connect to people, to evoke empathy and to make them squirm. Fiction holds up a mirror to the world with all the black and white and shades of grey present in real life. Escapism is valid, but it is better when you can escape into an ideal of how the world should be. Most of the fiction I write is escapism—science fiction, fantasy, mystery—and I’m not ashamed of that. The world needs idealism.

I have been made ashamed before. I started writing stories down when I was eleven-years-old, mostly reworking books I had read. Richard Peck’s ghost stories enamored me, and I created my own psychic protagonist trying to deal with the evil things that go bump in the night (had Ghost Whisperer beat by a few decades). That series no longer exists because I went to a church-sponsored youth retreat that convinced me that writing about psychics was Satan’s work. So the good little Christian that I was burned those stories and cried. No surprise that I later opted out of organized religion.

Teaching of writing should avoid making any child feel ashamed of what they write. Plenty of people out in the world will fill the position. Janet Emig’s essay stressed the positive points for writing as a function of learning, but overall, I wasn’t impressed by it. I know I learn by writing, so I don’t need to have it proved to me with scientific studies. Yes, I know, academics need studies.

The strongest resonance with Natalie Goldberg is her stance of writing through pain. I can’t point to the section in the finished novel, but I remember riding a bus to my car after spending the day at work and watching the World Trade Center buildings fall and feeling so numb as the bus TV was set to even more news. I pulled out my manuscript and wrote, suddenly blitzing through a scene that had given me so much trouble. I could control the words, even if I didn’t understand anything else taking place.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

WEEKLY GOAL

Progress Bar from Writertopia

MONTHLY GOAL

Progress Bar from Writertopia

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/

Catching Up Before I Get Behind

Projects for ENGL-646

• Reading response journal - due weekly


• Ongoing writing project = Zy's novel Chp 9 - 11 - due weekly


• Mini-research project - due ?


• Book project & presentation - due ?


• Mini-lesson plan & presentation - due ?


• Lesson plan & presentation - due ?


• Final paper/final version of ongoing writing project - due ?


• Final exam - due

Projects for ENGL-650

• 15 page research paper - due March 15/March 22


• Class presentation of research paper - due March 15/March 22


• Two 3-page play analysis papers - first due March 1


• Journal with 10 reaction entries on classmates presentations - due weekly


• Attend at least 2 Black History Month presentations for Feb 8th class - due ?

I need to have everything written before March 31st - April 3rd. I don't plan on missing class April 4th or 5th, but I'm not giving myself any presentations those two days.

ENGL-646 projects I think I'm going to hold back so other classmates with thesis and comps and more strenuous papers can go first. Though since I got this weekend free (bad weather again), I'm proably going to be working on homework. Get as much written as possible before it's actually due.

Also need to write the cooking show scripts.

Research topic: why is picking one in this subject so hard? I guess I'll start with Ashe Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans and have Zora Neale Hurston as my backup. Third choice is "Myth of the Negro Past."

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg is one of the required readings for ENGL-646. I think it's been recommended by just about everyone who has written a how-to-write book. It's simply about how empowering the act of writing is, how the only rule is practice everyday, how to care about the process and not worry so much about the product, how to get into the Zen state of writing. Powerful little book.

For the writing project inside of ENGL-646, I'm going to use Zy's Novel--at least the next few chapters. I already finished my outline: concrete details for Chapter 9 - 21 and no blank chapters now. If I need a break a break in the prose, I can fleshout the aliens and other background material tasks.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/